Hilarious Federer snub goes viral

Superhuman on the court, he was relegated to Average Joe status off it because of a brazen powerplay that has the world talking.

The Swiss superstar was roaming the corridors at Melbourne Park on his lonesome when he tried to bust through a door without his accreditation. An attentive security guard wasn't about to let that happen on his watch and quickly put a stop to the 37-year-old's journey.

We imagine the man in yellow did his best Gandalf impression from Lord of the Rings and bellowed: "You shall not pass." But without the audio it's really difficult to tell.

Cameras caught the dedicated employee playing nightclub bouncer but instead of when you were 18 and had to pretend to be sober enough to gain entry, Federer had to wait for his friends to come and vouch for him.

Thankfully, coach Ivan Ljubicic turned up alongside a colleague and the trio were allowed to pass through.

But the original snub made for internet gold and Twitter was quick to react to the laughable scenes as tennis writers and punters chimed in.

English tennis writer Simon Briggs wrote: "As anyone who has spent any time in Australia knows, this supposedly laid-back country is actually a stickler for rules."

Portuguese tennis writer Jose Morgado said "this is gold" while sites in the UK, America, Italy and Spain ran with the brilliant video, as did publications in other countries.

Teenage star Marta Kostyuk, who went on a stunning run at last year's Australian Open, added four laughing emojis as she tweeted out: "Nooo."

Still, Federer can find some comfort in the fact he's not the only big name to have been rejected in such ruthless fashion at the Australian Open.

A similar thing happened to five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova earlier in the week when she had the audacity to sneak around with her accrediation by her side rather than showing it off proudly around her neck.